Help Win The Balloon Challenge! (DARPA)

DARPA recently issued a challenge: On 5 DEC at 10 AM (Eastern time), it is going to raise 8 foot diameter red balloons over ten different locations in the US. The first person/team to identify all 10 locations correctly will win $40k.

Talk about a way to fire up a bunch of Intel Studies students! Wow!

Our students have organized a team (on their own), have established a collection plan and are busily working, as I type, trying to match collection assets to targets.

Part of their strategy involves sharing the wealth with anyone who spots a balloon and who helps the team win by reporting it to the MCIIS DARPA Challenge HQ. Every new balloon reported and confirmed is worth $1000 to the reporter if the team ultimately wins the challenge. The contact details are on the flyer below.

The team figures that the contest will be over on Saturday (even though it is supposed to run for 7 days), so help them out if you see anything or pass this info (quickly) along to someone who can.

Contest MCIIS RedBalloons[2]

The Turkey Industrial Complex, The Best Pie (Chart) Ever And The Happy Turkey Day Song (Thanksgiving Link List)

A Happy Thanksgiving to all SAM readers! May your turkey fryers not explode and may your Cool Whip not be lite! Here are a few non-shopping, non-football related sites to help you enjoy the day:

The Turkey Industrial Complex. Ever wonder how farmers manage to get 46 million turkeys to table on Thanksgiving? One piece of advice: Read it after you eat...

The Best Pie (Chart) Ever. Please let this be a joke, please let this be a joke... By the way, if your eighth grader doesn't "get it" then you should probably have a word with his or her math teacher.

The Happy Turkey Day Song. MST3K is still a favorite in my household (If you are not familiar with the series, ask for Manos: Hands of Fate for Christmas). This may not be the perfect Thanksgiving song, but it is nostalgic.

SHOPINT: Repair Or Replace? (Consumer Reports Via Lifehacker)

This time of year, many people's thoughts turn to shopping (well, first to giving thanks...but, then, to shopping). Lifehacker recently republished this very handy Consumer Reports repair or replace chart for a number of electronic items (Click on it to get a better view). Now you have the excuse you need to go out and get that 50 inch plasma...

Sunday Funnies: Spy Pigeon! (YouTube)

Great short video about what would happen if pigeons got access to Top Secret information...

Internet Connectivity In Africa (AppAfrica.net)

The blog White African recently pointed to a post on AppAfrica that featured an amazing infographic of the state of African internet connectivity in 2009. The pic below is too hard to read but it gives you an idea of what is in the document. You can, however download a very detailed view (as well as some shots of specific areas of interest) from Flickr.